 |
NECC to Offer
Entrepreneurship Course at
High Schools and College
A new Northern Essex Community College course on Entrepreneurship will be taught to local high school students as well as traditional college students this fall as part of an exciting new partnership.
“Entrepreneurship: Small Business Ownership”, a three-credit course, will be offered during the days to Amesbury and Newburyport high school students—many of whom are young entrepreneurs. The students will take the course taught by Northern Essex faculty at their own high schools and receive both high school and college credits.
In addition, the same course is also open to Northern Essex students and the community on Tuesday evenings from 6 to 8:45 at the college’s Haverhill Campus.
The fall semester runs from September 13 through December 20, 2005.
The partnership between the high schools and the college was facilitated by Tom Cheatham of the North Shore Technology Council. A partner with the Rosetta Group in Woburn, Cheatham thinks it’s critically important that high school youth are familiar with the principles of entrepreneurship and that a focus on these skills at the high school level will result in economic growth in the years ahead. “It is not enough to have a good business idea to succeed,” said Cheatham. “Risk taking entrepreneurs are required to successfully translate ideas into viable businesses that employ and grow our local economy. The sooner youth learn these skills the sooner they will apply them in real life and make a difference for us all.”
The entrepreneurship course will cover the basics of business, including research, marketing and finance, and participants will be required to create a business plan and present it to the class.
The curriculum is case-based, meaning that students will study real issues faced by local businesses, including a laundry, a bookstore, two musical bands, and a dance academy. The case studies were prepared especially for this class and the business owners will be invited to meet with students.
“While students who have a small business or are considering opening a small business will certainly benefit from this class, the principles of entrepreneurship covered will be helpful to everyone,” says Susan Grolnic, Northern Essex’s dean of business, math, science, and technology. Grolnic believes that we tend to view entrepreneurship in terms that are too narrow. “Entrepreneurship is a way of looking at the world, seeing there are problems and coming up with solutions. We all need to think more like entrepreneurs.”
Grolnic developed the course with NECC Professor Bill Zannini, a former business person who has been teaching at the college full-time since 2004. The course was originally created for college students but a meeting with local high school principals and business leaders determined there was a need for entrepreneurship courses at the high school level.
“Principals felt that by their senior year many students were looking for new courses. Because so many students are starting their own businesses and entrepreneurship as a concept is so hot now, they loved the idea of offering our college course at their high schools,” explained Grolnic.
For more information, please contact Kathy Proietti, assistant dean, Computer and Information Sciences, kproietti@necc.mass.edu and 978 556-3874.
###
With campuses in Haverhill and Lawrence and extension sites in Andover and Methuen, Northern Essex Community College is a state-assisted college, offering over 70 associate degree and certificate programs as well as hundreds of non credit courses designed for personal enrichment and career growth. Close to 11,000 students ranging from recent high school graduates to workers employed locally attend classes days, evenings, and weekends. Northern Essex is the only state college located in the lower Merrimack Valley Region of Massachusetts.
Contact:
Ernie Greenslade
NECC director of public relations
978 556-3862
egreenslade@necc.mass.edu
Take action!
